Metal awning



W. F. TATE METAL AWNING July 24, 1956 Filed NOV. 7. 1952 INVENTOR. wfLLramFrav-rr I he's METAL AWNING William F. Tate, Mineola, N. Y., assignor to Kool Vent Metal Awning Corporation of America, Pittsburgh, Pa, a corporation of Pennsylvania Application November 7, 1952, Serial No. 319,275

2 Claims. (Cl. 2057.5)

This invention relates to metal awnings. More particularly, the invention is for an improved flashing construction through which the awning is permanently attached to a building.

A preferred practice today is to make awnings of standard parts which can be made up in large quantities to reduce the cost of the awning. Heretofore it has been the practice to use a flashing at the top of a metal awning where it abuts the face of the building. If the awning is preassem-bled, it is diflicult to secure the flashing attached to the awning tightly against the building. Larger awnings are usually assembled piece by piece on the job, in which case the flashing is first secured in place and the louvres forming the pans and covers are progressively put in place and attached to it. Great care must be taken in this case to support the louvres at the proper angle and not let them sag down or bend. This is a difficult and time-consuming task with long awnings. Moreover, with both preassembled and large awnings, the flashing strip must be pre-shaped to the slope of the awning and no single form is adaptable to all sizes and slopes of awnings.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide an improved arrangement of awning flashing which can be used for attaching metal awnings over most types of windows.

Another object of the invention is to provide a flashing which is standard for awnings of different slopes.

A further object of the invention is to provide a prefabricated flashing whioh can be easily attached to a building wall and from which the louvres constituting the roof of the awning can hang vertically during the erection of the awning piece by piece on the job and avoid the necessity of having the roof assembled while positioned at the desired angle with reference to the building.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists in the awning flashing herein illustrated and described and particularly defined in the appended claims.

The various features of the invention are illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which: p v

Fig. l is a perspective view showing the improved flashing attached to a building and parts of an awning attached to the flashing;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the mounting of the upper and lower channels of an awning on a transverse supporting channel with a section taken on the line IIII of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a modified form of awning plate portion of the flashing as it is fabricated as a separate piece.

The present invention relates to the mounting of an awning of the type illustrated in the invention of Harrison et al., No. 2,442,891. In Fig. 2 of the drawing of this patent is illustrated the flashing strip which is used to attach the upper end of an awning to the wall of a building. This flashing strip, as here shown, has an upstanding portion 5c and a downwardly extending web portion 5a. The web portion 5a should make an angle Patented July 24, 1956 with the upstanding portion 5c, for the proper mounting of the awning, which will depend upon the size and shape of the awning and the design of the building on which the awning is mounted. In view of this fact, the flashing strip 5 must be shaped for each individual awning to be mounted. The forming of the flashing strip 5 is a slow and costly operation and has to be properly fitted or designed for each job.

The present invention provides a metal awning construction in which an attachment to the wall is procured through two cooperating members, one being a wall plate or strip 10, and the other being an awning plate or strip 12. The wall plate 10 has a flat wall engaging web portion which is provided with holes 13 in which nails, screws, or bolts may be used for attaching the wall plate to the wall upon which the awning is to be mounted. The awning plate 12 (Figs. 1 and 3) has a flat surface 14 which is formed for connection with a flat face 16 formed on the upper end of the awning elements 18. The awning plate may be attached to the upper portion of the awning elements by bolts, rivets or screws 20.

The wall plate has an upwardly and outwardly bent portion 22 along the top of the flat web portion of the plate, and the upper edge of the bent portion is turned back toward the wall to form a downwardly opening hook 24 at its upper end. The top of the awning plate has a downwardly bent portion 26 with the end of the bent portion being turned back to form a curved hook 28 arranged to cooperate with the hook 24 to form a hinged joint between the two plates of the flashing strip. The curved hooks 24 and 23 are so formed that after the plate It has been attached to the wall and the plate 12 has been attached to the awning, the two plates may be hooked together to form the hinge.

This arrangement greatly facilitates the installation or erection of the awnings. If the awning is a smaller awning which is erected in assembled form, the wall plate can be secured in position over the door or window and firmly secured in place, whereas with the single flashing strip heretofore used, the awning has to be held in place by one workman while another, reach-ing over the awning from the sides or front, must secure the flashing to the wall. In the case of larger awnings, the flashing strip heretofore has first been put in place after which louvres are attached to it one by one, and as stated above, care must be taken that the louvres are notbent before the supporting frame-work can be erected. Wit-h the present invention, the wall plate is installed in place, the awning plate hooked into it, and the louvres are then attached to the awning plate and allowed to hang vertically. This not only reduces danger of bending, but the work is made more accessible and can be carried out by one mechanic.

When the flash-ing plate 10 is attached to the wall, the hook 24- is comparatively close to the wall so that after the awning has been hung the joint 30 between the hinge of the flashing and the face of the wall may be filled with a calking compound 32 to form a water-tight joint at the connection of the flashing with the wall.

The awning of the present invention may be of any suitable form, but as shown is made up of separate elements or louvres comprising lower channels 34 (Fig. 2) which have upwardly extending flanges 36 and inwardly extending lips 38. These lower channels are mounted on transversely extending supporting members 40, there being one member near the top of the awning and one member near the bottom of the awning (Fig. 1). The lower channels 34 are spaced apart on the transverse members 46 and over the space between the lower channels are mounted upper channels 42 which have downwardly extending flanges 44 at each side with inwardly extending lips 46 at the bottom of each flange. These channels are held in position on the transverse members 40 by means of fastening clips 48 which have a locking connection with the transverse member 40 at 5%. The fastening clips and the locking member of the clip on the supporting member is illustrated and described in the application of Helt Serial No. 202,175, filed December 22, 1950. The clips 43 have a flat portion which rests upon the transverse member tl and upwardly extending portions 52 with outwardly extending inclined walls 54 arranged to be engaged by the lip 46 on the upper channels. A reverse bend portion 56 at each side of the fastener is arranged to rest upon the lips 38 of the lower channels. This type of clip is adapted for supporting the upper channel a distance above the lower channel substantially equal to the height of the flanges on the channels. The clip is a comparatively narrow piece so that air may circulate in the space between the lips 38 of the lower channels and lips 46 of the upper channels to provide a ventilation for the roof of the awning.

To adapt this type of awning for use with the flashing strip described above, the lower channels 34 have flanges 36 cut away near the upper ends of the channels to form the flat face 16 upon which the flat face 14 of the awning plate is mounted to secure the awning to the flashing strip. The upper channel 42 is mounted above the channel 34 as illustrated in Figs. 1 and 2, and an offset portion 60 is formed in the awning plate which has a height substantially equal to the combined heights of the flanges on the upper and lower channels. With this construction downwardly extending flange 62 connected with the offset portion 60 of the awning plate covers the upper ends of the channels as illustrated in Fig. 1. The lower end of the flange 62 may be bent downwardly as shown in Fig. 1 to increase its strength and to make a tight fit with the tops of the webs of the upper channels.

In place of the awning plat 12 of Fig. 1, the awning plate 64 of Fig. 3 may be used. The awning plate 64 differs from the plate 12 in that it is bent upwardly at the lower end of the flange 62 to form a rib 66. The under surface of the rib 66 will bear tightly against the upper faces of the upper channels 42.

The mounting of the flashing strip on the wall provides a valley in which water may accumulate so that openings 68 (Figs. 1 and 3) are formed at the bottom of the upstanding portion 60 of the awning plate opposite each of the lower channels of the awning to allow water which enters the valley to drain into the channels and thus flow down and off of the awning.

In the drawings the construction of a ventilated awning is illustrated, while in the above-mentioned Helt application a clip fastening for a non-ventilated awning roof is illustrated. The construction of the lower channels for either type of awning roof would be the same, and accordingly the flashing strip is adaptable for use with an awning of the type illustrated in the Helt application, or of the awning illustrated in the present application. It will be understood that the flashing of the present invention extends across the full width of the awning, and the hinge portions of the awning and wall plates extends the full length of the flashing strip. It will be seen that with the hinge joint of the awning, it may be set at any desired angle, and with standard type awnings the water drain holes will match the position of the lower channels. Also, while metal is mentioned herein as the material of which the awning is made, it may also be formed of suitable plastic strips or channels within the contemplation of my invention.

The preferred form of the invention having been thus described, what is claimed as new is:

1. A pivotally adjustable supporting connection between an awning and building, comprising a building member having a web portion attached to the building and terminating in an upwardly and outwardly extending portion provided with a rearwardly deflected flange disposed in spaced relation to the building, and a substantially Z-shaped awning plate having one flange which extends substantially the full width of the awning and is provided with a downwardly deflected edge portion for pivotal interlocking engagement with the building momber flange, a web portion projecting upwardly from the awning plate flange and terminating in a downwardly deflected flange overlappingly engaging the awning, said awning being rigidly attached to the first-named awning plate flange.

2. In an awning structure for buildings, in combination, a wall plate having a web portion secured to the building, and an outwardly extending portion terminating in a flange directed towards the building and in spaced relation thereto, a substantially Z-shaped awning plate having a flange portion overlying and attached to the adjacent end portion of the awning, said flange at the outer edge thereof terminating in a downwardly deflected portion for pivotal interlocking attachment to the wall plate flange, an upstanding web on the inner edge of the said awning plate flange, said web terminating in a flange portion directed inwardly of the awning and in overlapping bearing engagement therewith.

References Cited in the tile of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,419,287 Maxwell June 13, 1922 1,442,172 Nelson Jan. 16, 1923 2,168,811 Tyson Aug. 8, 1939 2,234,760 Guarcello Mar. 11, 1941 2,251,572 Kuhn et al. Aug. 5, 1941 2,442,891 Harrison June 8, 1948 2,593,221 Thompson et al. Apr. 15, 1952 2,596,934 Langbein May 13, 1952 2,629,145 Parsson Feb. 24, 1953 2,639,477 Freeman May 26, 1953 2,642,635 Hutton June 23, 1953 

